Top-level
U.S. security leaders November 3 communicated directly with officials of the
major all-cargo and express air carriers and visited Yemen, the country
believed to be the source of last week’s printer bomb threats. The Homeland
Security Secretary discussed enhanced security measures with officials at UPS,
DHL, FedEx, and TNT, and suggested preventative measures that would include
terrorism awareness training for their employees, who number about 1 million.
In a talk with the director general of the International Air Transport
Association (IATA), she underscored the partnership with airlines and alliances
that focuses on layered security. An IATA spokesman said the industry group was
pleased that the secretary “reached out to the industry.” At a security
conference in Frankfurt, Germany this week, the IATA chief also met with the
director of the Transportation Security Administration.
A
cargo area at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York was
briefly evacuated November 3 when a suspicious package from Yemen was
discovered, authorities said. The package, found in a DHL Express cargo area
about 5:30 p.m., contained a cellphone, officials said. The discovery prompted
concern because it came 1 week after authorities foiled a plot in which two
separate bombs — each containing circuit boards from cellphones — were sent
from Yemen to Chicago via FedEx and U.P.S. Those packages were intercepted
before reaching the United States. The discovery of the package November 3 led
to the evacuation of the DHL cargo facility out of an abundance of caution,
said a FBI spokesman. The package was determined safe just after 8 p.m., and
workers were allowed to return. The evacuation did not affect any passenger
terminals, a Port Authority spokesman said.
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